PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Miss Hall's School is seeking area professional women to volunteer as mentors for its 16th annual Money Matters financial literacy workshops to be held on Monday, Nov. 16, and Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the school’s Holmes Road campus.

Eighth-grade girls from across Berkshire County will attend the program, which provides them with a foundation of financial understanding. This year’s program will be facilitated by Dr. Mahnaz Mahdavi, professor of economics and the Ann F. Kaplan ’67 Faculty Director of Center for Women and Financial Independence at Smith College, and René Heavlow, Director of the Center for Women and Financial

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — School Committee Chairwomen Katherine Yon's email was hacked by scammers. Yon said those grammatically incorrect and scamlike emails from her AOL address are not coming from her. She said she's been working with the company to secure the address. "I have been hacked," Yon said during Wednesday's School Committee meeting, telling people that emails from that address may be fake and not to send any money to the hacker. iBerkshires received a fake email on Tuesday, which asked for money to be sent to Mexico. The email was filled with grammar errors and claimed Yon's cousin was sick with cancer and needed some $1,800 more

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee commended the work of Principal Gina Coleman, Herberg staff, and the students for the handling of a recent incident when a middle schooler was found to have a loaded gun in his locker. The committee said the Herberg community followed procedures to a T, but expressed concern that the student was able to get the weapon into the school in the first place. "Having something real and very public in our back yard was shocking to say the least," said committee member Joshua Cutler. "This is a situation we all have zero tolerance for and never want to see happen again." Superintendent Jason McCandless

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Thirty-two Miss Hall’s School students, including 28 recent graduates and 11 local students, have been named by the College Board as AP Scholars, in recognition of their exceptional achievements on the 2015 Advanced Placement (AP) Exams.

The AP Scholar designation means that the students earned a 3 or better — using a 5-point grading system — on three or more of the rigorous AP Exams, which are administered in May. This year, 88 MHS girls sat for 163 exams in 22 subject areas, and 91 percent of those exams earned qualifying scores, according to the College Board, which oversees the AP program.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Superintendent Jason McCandless says the best thing the city could do to keep the schools safe is to bring back an alternative school. "It is a conversation that we simply must have. The districts that are successful with the most at-risk students are districts that have a unified housed alternative program for middle and high school students," McCandless told the City Council on Tuesday. The council called on McCandless, Police Chief Michael Wynn, and Mayor Daniel Bianchi to discuss improving school safety in the wake of a student being found in possession of a handgun at Herberg Middle School. A teacher was informed about the gun by

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — More and more education is being dictated by bureaucracy. And the eight candidates seeking six seats on the School Committee voiced support for allowing teachers to be creative in combating that oversight. "I think it is very important that teachers are heard," said incumbent Katherine Yon. "I feel it is important that there is a mechanism, a way for teachers to speak up." Yon said there used to be advisory councils for teachers to weigh in on what was happening administratively but many of those have disbanded. She wants to bring those back to allow teachers to have more opportunity for input. Her answer was in

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The two mayoral candidates both want strong educational systems. But, how to achieve that is where they differ.

For Linda Tyer, she'd want to adopt an International Baccalaureate program, a growing teaching method focused on academic rigor.

The program helps schools develop curriculum focused on writing, broad themes and inquiry, and world cultures and can earn credits from colleges. Such a move would make the city's educational system "unique" and help attract new students. "It is really designed to create a pipeline for higher education at some of the more outstanding colleges including ivy league colleges," the city clerk

LENOX, Mass. — Non ministrari, sed ministrare. That's Latin for "not to be served, but to serve," a motto instilled in hundreds of young men who attended the former Lenox School for Boys. That principle continues to live on even though the school closed 45 years ago. On Saturday, 115 people attended the annual alumni reunion dinner, the largest total since an alumni association was formed to preserve the memory of the all-boys boarding school. "That camaraderie we developed transcended time. We have that strong sense of what we called the 'Lenox School experience.' Many of us followed different pursuits but all of us have this

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield police removed a small caliber pistol from a locker at Herberg Middle School on Friday morning.

The weapon was not loaded, but did have a clip with bullets beside it. had a magazine in the gun but there were no bullets in the chamber. (Superintendent Jason McCandless on Monday corrected the information first given to the press from the mayor's office on Friday.)

Police were called after a student reported to a teacher that another student had a gun in the school building.

A search was conducted by the school administration, with assistance from the school resource officer, David Orsi. The weapon was removed

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee has reached a new three-year deal with the teachers' union. The two sides reached agreement in June and spent the summer ironing out language. On Wednesday, the School Committee accepted the settlement, which will run from the beginning of the school year this year until the end of the 2017/2018 school year. The deal with the United Educators of Pittsfield includes the merging of two separate salary scales, raising the starting salaries, assurances for new technology, and increased accountability on the usage of sick time. "I'm very happy. I think it is a fair deal and gives us stability for the next